SMIRNOFF ARRIVES
At last!
It was on the footboard of a railway-carriage, lighted up by the
glimmer of a railway-station lamp, that we first saw Smirnoff, for
he arrived in Port Arthur at midnight on March 17. Though quite
grey-headed, as he stepped out on to the platform in the uniform of
an officer of the General Staff, he seemed the embodiment of energy.
Casting on all around a keen glance, which expressed determination and
capability, he gave utterance to a few polite sentences--for all the
senior commanders were there to meet him--and drove off at once to his
quarters with Lieutenant-Colonel Khvostoff, his Chief of the Staff. It
is difficult for anyone who was not actually present to appreciate the
pleasing impression he gave. No sooner had he arrived than he began to
get a grip of affairs in Port Arthur, and accompanied by his trusted
and indefatigable assistant, General Kondratenko, set to work to
fortify and arm the Fortress. These two men spent days together going
over the landward defences.
On March 17 Stössel issued a farewell order preparatory to departing
to command the 3rd Siberian Army Corps. In it he said that 'Arthur is
now an impregnable stronghold.' The _Novy Kry_ objected to publish
this order, as it was obviously inaccurate. It was all very well to
tell those not in the know that Arthur was 'impregnable,' but why say
so to us, who had gone through three bombardments, and especially that
of March 10? Report it to St. Petersburg--yes: St. Petersburg was many
miles away; but why stultify himself before the whole garrison?
Having inspected the line of forts, batteries, and earthworks on the
landward, and part of those on the seaward side, General Smirnoff
was horrified at what he found. The heavy semi-permanent works which
it was proposed to construct in order to complete the girdle of
fortifications as laid down by Imperial order, were either not begun
or in a very embryonic condition; and it was the same with the laying
of the armoured concrete for casemated buildings--work which required
time. Scarcely anything was being done to the intermediate field-works.
There, where menacing works sprang up afterwards within five months,
were now naked rocks. Military roads had alone been made--many of them
by the Chinese. The sites for Little and Big Eagle's Nests, Zaredoubt,
Zaliterny, Tumulus, Cemetery Batteries, Obelisk Hill, and Fort No. 6,
were then rock as bare as my hand; they had not been even traced out
on the ground. The strengthening of Fort No. 5 had not been commenced.
On the greater number of old fortifications to be strengthened, but
which were not yet completed, guns had not even been mounted, or had
been so badly mounted that the work would have to be done over again.
Of a third line of defence no one had even thought. It was the same
with 203 Metre Hill, Divisional Hill, Long Hill, Flat Hill, Angle
Hill, Ta-ku-shan and Sia-gu-shan Hills, etc. In a word, a picture of
absolute unpreparedness was unfolded before the new Commandant. This
was alarmingly increased by the fact that the different advanced works
were very badly sited, and badly designed for their sites at that. He
decided to depart considerably from the proposed plan of the polygon
of defences, and found it necessary to move several of the works
forward, and to strengthen the above-mentioned hills, well knowing
that once the Japanese got possession of Kinchou and a strict blockade
commenced on land, the Fortress could not long hold out in the state
in which he found it. With his arrival all the best men, headed by the
late General Kondratenko, joined hands, and the work proceeded apace.
Though the gangs of Chinamen employed on the earthworks day and night
were large, they were not large enough, and a dearth of labour was at
once felt. The Chinese would not agree to work for the fairly high
wage offered to them, and began gradually to slink away to Chifu. The
Japanese spread proclamations among them, of which the following--a
typical one--was published:
'Port Arthur will soon be cut off, and then captured. No Chinaman
who has in any way assisted the Russians to defend the place will be
given quarter.'
All the labour of fortifying and arming the Fortress fell upon the
7th East Siberian Rifle Division, under General Kondratenko, and upon
the reserve battalions. The work done by these simple, rough Russians
was the work of Titans, and only those who watched them delving,
shoving, and hauling on the slopes of those rocky hills for months can
appreciate what the labour was.
General Stössel, hanging 'twixt heaven and earth, daily expecting
orders to leave for the corps he commanded, now 'sat very tight.'
All to whom Arthur and the honour and glory of Russia were dear were
delighted, for they were convinced that in the hands of Smirnoff
and Kondratenko the place would be transformed into a veritable
inaccessible stronghold, if not too late. The Commandant held long and
constant consultations with the officer in command of the fleet, at
which combined operations were worked out, in case the enemy should
land. Liao-tieh-shan was rapidly and energetically fortified. Canet
guns were got into position, new telephone-lines were constructed, and
the finishing touches were put to the mine defences. Arrangements were
also made for high-angle fire over this hill, in case the Japanese
fleet should attempt to repeat their tactics of March 10, and the
guns in the coast batteries were mounted so as to allow of all-round
traverse, and greater angle of elevation, and others were borrowed
from the navy. The gunboats _Otvajny_ and _Giliak_ were stationed in
the narrows as look-outs, and the cruisers issued at night by turns
into the outer roads for the same purpose. Work went right merrily,
confidence increased, and every one grew calmer.